Midras Keluaran 3:8: Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shemot Rabbah, Devarim Rabbah & Midrash Tanchuma

(Numb. 14:11:)¹This supplement comes from Codex Vaticanus, Ebr. 34. It is found neither in Buber’s primary Oxford manuscript nor in the traditional version of the Tanhuma. THEN THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES: HOW LONG WILL THIS PEOPLE SCORN ME, AND HOW LONG WILL THEY HAVE NO FAITH IN ME …? This text is related (to Prov. 1:25, 30): BUT YOU HAVE SPURNED ALL MY PLAN AND WOULD NOT ACCEPT MY REBUKE [….] THEY HAVE DESPISED ALL MY REBUKE. What is the implication of BUT YOU HAVE SPURNED ALL MY PLAN? Simply that all the good which I planned for you, you have spoiled and spurned.²Numb. R. 16:24. Thus it is stated (in Prov. 1:25): BUT YOU HAVE SPURNED (rt.: PR') ALL MY PLAN? At the beginning I said to Moses (in Exod. 3:8): I HAVE COME DOWN TO DELIVER THEM OUT OF THE HAND OF THE EGYPTIANS AND TO BRING THEM UP <OUT OF THAT LAND UNTO A GOOD AND SPACIOUS LAND>…. But you did not act in the way <I intended>. Instead you came to the sea and immediately spoiled my plan, as stated (in Ps. 106:7): THEY REBELLED AT THE SEA, AT THE REED SEA. When you came to Mount Sinai, I descended and spoke with you. I brought down on your behalf thousands upon thousands and myriads upon myriads of angels, and I passed on two angels to each and every person in Israel. R. Johanan said: One to gird him with his weapons³Gk.: zone (“girdle”). and one to put a crown on his head.⁴Above, Exod. 2:9 and 8:7 (with the notes in those sections); also Lam. R. 2:13 (17); Cant. R. 4:4:1 PRK 16:3; PR 21:7; 33:10; M. Ps. 103:8. R. Huna of Sepphoris said: He bound their weapons to them, while R. Simoy said: He clothed them in purple, as stated (in Ezek. 16:10): I CLOTHED YOU WITH EMBROIDERED GARMENTS. R. Simeon b. Johay says: He clothed them with an instrument of weaponry with the Ineffable Name written upon it. Moreover, as long as it was in their hand, nothing evil had power against them, neither the angel of death nor anything else.⁵See above, Exod. 9:12; Exod. R. 32:1; 41:7; 51:8; Lev. R. 18:3; cf. ‘AZ 5a. But when they sinned, Moses had said to them (in Exod. 33:5): NOW THEN, REMOVE YOUR ORNAMENTS (i.e., your weapons) FROM YOURSELVES, THAT I MAY KNOW WHAT TO DO TO YOU. At that time (according to vs. 4): WHEN THE PEOPLE HEARD THIS BAD NEWS, THEY WENT INTO MOURNING, <AND NO ONE PUT HIS ORNAMENTS ON HIMSELF>. And what is written (in vs. 6)? SO [THE CHILDREN OF] ISRAEL STRIPPED THEMSELVES OF ORNAMENTS…. What had the Holy One done (at the giving of Torah)?⁶See Exod. R. 32:1. He had brought the angel of death and said to him: All the world is under your authority, except this people whom I have chosen for myself. R. Eleazar the Son of R. Jose the Galilean said: The angel of death said to the Holy One: Have I been created in the world for nothing?⁷Exod. R. 27. The Holy One said to him: I created you so that you would destroy <all> the peoples of the world except this people, over whom you have no authority to take a single one of them. Look at the plan which the Holy One had devised concerning them for them to live and endure! Thus it is stated (in Deut. 4:4): BUT YOU WHO CLUNG TO THE LORD YOUR GOD ARE ALL ALIVE TODAY. So also it says (in Exod. 32:16): AND THE WRITING WAS THE WRITING OF GOD INSCRIBED (harut) ON THE TABLETS. What is the meaning of harut? R. Judah says: FREEDOM (herut) from the empires; but R. Nehemiah says: FREEDOM (herut) from the angel of death; and our masters say: FREEDOM from afflictions. Look at the plan which the Holy One had devised for them! Then they immediately spoiled this plan after <only> forty days. It is therefore stated (in Prov. 1:25): BUT YOU HAVE SPURNED ALL MY PLAN.

“An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed” (Exodus 3:2).
“An angel of the Lord appeared to him” – that is what is written: “I am asleep, but my heart is awake” (Song of Songs 5:2). I am asleep from the mitzvot, but my heart is awake to perform them. “My perfect one [tamati]” (Song of Songs 5:2) at Sinai, as they had perfect faith [shenitamemu] with Me at Sinai, and they said: “Everything that the Lord spoke, we will do and we will obey” (Exodus 24:7). Rabbi Yannai said: Just as it is with twins [teomim], if the head of one hurts, the other feels it, so too, the Holy One blessed be He said, as it were: “I will be with him in trouble” (Psalms 91:15).
Alternatively: What is: “I will be with him in trouble?” When they have trouble they call out only to the Holy One blessed be He. In Egypt – “their cry came up to God” (Exodus 2:23); at the sea – “and the children of Israel cried to the Lord” (Exodus 14:10), and many others like that. And it says: “In all their trouble, He was troubled” (Isaiah 63:9). The Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: ‘Don’t you sense that I am suffering just as Israel is suffering? Know that from the place that I am speaking with you, from the thorns, as it were, I am party to their suffering.’
“An angel of the Lord appeared.” Rabbi Yoḥanan said: That is Michael. Rabbi Ḥanina said: That is Gabriel. [Regarding] Rabbi Yosei the tall, everywhere that they would see him, they would say: ‘Here is our saintly rabbi.’¹²Rabbi Yosei was an attendant of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. Similarly, everywhere that Michael appears, there is the glory of the Divine Presence.
“To him” – what is “to him?” It teaches that there were people with him and they did not see, only Moses alone. As it is written regarding Daniel: “I, Daniel, alone, saw the vision” (Daniel 10:7).
“In a flame [belabat] of fire” – to give him courage [lelabevo], so that when he arrives at Sinai and sees those fires, he will not fear them. Alternatively, belabat esh, from two thirds of the bush and above, just as the heart [lev] is placed at two thirds of the person and above.
“From the midst of the bush” – a gentile asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa: ‘What did the Holy One blessed be He see that led Him to speak with Moses from the midst of the bush?’ He said to him: ‘Had he spoken to him from a carob tree or a sycamore tree, would you ask me the same? However, to dismiss you outright is impossible. Why from the midst of the bush? It is to teach you that there is no place that is vacant of the Divine Presence, even a bush.’
“In a flame of fire” – initially, only one angel descended, which stood in the center of the fire, and then the Divine Presence descended and spoke with him “from the midst of the bush”¹³In Exodus 3:2 it says: “He saw an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in the midst of the bush” and then in verse 4 it says: “God called him from the midst of the bush.” (Exodus 3:4).
Rabbi Eliezer says: Just as a bush is the lowliest of all the trees in the world, so too, Israel was lowly and humble to the Egyptians; therefore, the Holy One blessed be He appeared to them and redeemed them, as it is stated: “I came down to deliver them from the hand of Egypt” (Exodus 3:8). Rabbi Yosei says: Just as the bush is the harshest of all the trees, and any bird that enters the bush does not emerge from it unharmed, so too, the enslavement in Egypt was the harshest of all the enslavements in the world before the Omnipresent, as it is stated: “The Lord said: I have seen [ra’o ra’iti] the affliction of My people” (Exodus 3:7). Why does the verse state ra’o ra’iti twice?¹⁴The question is based on the doubled verb, combining the absolute infinitive ra’o with the first person past tense ra’iti, meaning ‘I have seen.’ This formulation is common in Biblical Hebrew and is often understood to indicate emphasis. In any case, the midrash takes the opportunity to expound upon the double verb. It is because after they would drown them [the Hebrew children] in the river they would then crush them under the construction. This is analogous to one who took a rod and struck two people and both of them receive the lash and know its pain.¹⁵ It is as if God also feels the pain of Israel. So too, the pain and enslavement of Israel was revealed before the One Who spoke and the world came into being, as it is stated: “As I know its pains” (ibid.).
Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Just as this bush, one makes it into a fence for a garden, so too, Israel is a fence for the world. Alternatively: Just as this bush grows on any water,¹⁶It grows both from rainwater and irrigation. so too Israel grows only due to the merit of the Torah, which is characterized as water, as it is stated: “Ho, everyone who thirsts, go to the water” (Isaiah 55:1).
Another matter: Just as this bush grows in a garden and by a river, so too, Israel is in this world and in the World to Come. Alternatively, just as the bush produces thorns and produces roses, so too, in Israel there are both righteous and wicked. Rabbi Pinḥas the priest, son of Rabbi Ḥama said: Just as the bush, when one inserts his hand into it, one doesn’t feel anything, but when one removes it, it is scratched, so too, when Israel descended to Egypt, no creature knew them, but when they emerged, they emerged “with signs, with wonders, and with war” (Deuteronomy 4:34). Rabbi Yehuda bar Shalom said: Just as the bush, when a bird enters it he doesn’t feel it and when it emerges, its wings are plucked, so too, when Abraham descended to Egypt, no creature knew him, and when he emerged: “The Lord plagued Pharaoh” (Genesis 12:17).
Another matter: “From the midst of the bush” – Rabbi Naḥman, the son of Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman says: All trees – some of them produce one leaf, some two or three. The myrtle produces three, as it is called: “a leafy tree” (Leviticus 23:40); however, the bush has five leaves. the Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: Israel is redeemed only due to the merit of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and your merit and the merit of Aaron. Alternatively, “from the midst of the bush [hasneh]” – He alluded to him [to Moses] that he would live one hundred and twenty years, corresponding to the numerical value of hasneh.¹⁷Heh – 5, samekh – 60, nun – 50, heh – 5 = 120.
“He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire.” From here they say that heavenly fire generates rays of light and burns but does not consume,¹⁸It burns without consuming fuel. and it is black. Earthly fire does not produce light rays, it is red, and it consumes but does not burn. Why did the Holy One blessed be He show Moses this matter? It is because he was contemplating in his heart and saying: Perhaps the Egyptians will eradicate Israel; therefore, the Holy One blessed be He showed him a burning fire that is not consumed. He said to him: ‘Just as the bush burns in fire but is not consumed, so too, the Egyptians will be unable to eradicate Israel.’
Another matter: Because the Holy One blessed be He [wanted to] speak with Moses, but he [Moses] did not want to interrupt his work [of shepherding], He showed him this thing so that he would turn his head and see, and He could speak with him, as you find initially: “An angel of the Lord appeared to him,” and Moses did not go. Once he stopped working he went to see, immediately: “God called to him” (Exodus 3:4).

“I have come down to deliver them from the hand of Egypt and to take them up from that land to a good and expansive land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Emorites and the Perizzites and the Hivvites and the Yevusites” (Exodus 3:8).
“I have come down to deliver them from the hand of Egypt…” – the Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: ‘I told their patriarch Jacob: “I will go down with you into Egypt and I will take you up…” (Genesis 46:4). Now I have come down here to take his descendants up, as I said to Jacob their patriarch. To where will I take them up? To the place from which I took them, to the land about which I took an oath to their ancestors.’ That is what is written: “And to take them up from that land…”
“And now, behold, the outcry of the children of Israel has come to Me and I have also seen the oppression that the Egyptians are oppressing them” (Exodus 3:9).
“And now, behold, the outcry of the children of Israel has come to Me,” – until now, their outcry has not come to Me, as the end that I said to Abraham had not yet arrived: “And [they] will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years” (Genesis 15:13).
“Go now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and take My people the children of Israel out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10).
“Go [lekha] now, and I will send you to Pharaoh” – Rabbi Elazar said: Lekha [ending with the letter heh] is emphatic, saying that if you do not deliver them there is no one else to deliver them.¹¹The midrash is reading lekha, go, as a conjunction of lekh ata, go you.